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More nude and private images of female celebrities were reportedly released on web forums on Friday

Hackers have yet to become tired of their invasive efforts to embarrass large swathes of the female Hollywood elite, as shown in yet another – the third – leak of private and intimate images.

This time, unverified photographs taken from devices owned by Twilight actress Anna Kendrick and Olympic gold medallist Misty May-Treanor were unveiled to 4chan and Reddit forum users.

All of the 87 Kendrick photos were thought to show her clothed, however, and included pictures of the actress having fun with friends on nights out in images not too dissimilar of most people in their twenties.

The image dump happened on Friday afternoon, the Daily Beast reports, and also included model Cara Delevingne, Going the Distance actress Kelli Garner and Briana Evigan from the Step-Up series, with further images of Hunger Games actress Jennifer Lawrence also uploaded.

In what has been dubbed ‘The Fappening 3’, this latest leak comes after the initial release of images stolen from over 100 female celebrities a month ago and a second lot that was spread online last weekend.

In the second bout, Vanessa Hudgens, Emily Ratajkowski, Mary-Kate Olsen and Rihanna were targeted.

Earlier this month, after the first wave of images were released leading to both the FBI and Apple investigating the security beach, Kendrick, who wasn’t part of that original leak, commented that even if she had been “it would just be photos of food and other people’s dogs anyway".

Kendrick made the statement on Twitter in response to a text message she’d received from her brother which said “I have never been happier to not see your name on a list”.

She had also later told the QMI Agency around the same time: “It certainly makes me sad for the girls who were affected, and bummed out that people won’t be able to do that stuff, because it’s a part of life and if you want to you should be able.

Actress Anna Kendrick

“When stuff like that happens, I feel really grateful for my paranoia and really sad for people who are just trying to live their life like a normal person. And I hope that guy goes to jail.”

Thankfully, an EmmaYouAreNext.com countdown which had purportedly been created by hackers threatening to release images of Emma Watson, turned out to be an elaborate hoax.

It had been launched by a fake marketing company called Rantic Media after the Harry Potter actress and UN ambassador launched the ‘HeForShe’ campaign for gender equality.

Cara Delevingne and Anna Kendrick have yet to responded to requests by The Independent for comment.

A hacker has reportedly released nude photos of a host of female celebrities including Hunger Games actress Jennifer Lawrence. And it's not just Lawrence left red-faced, the hacker reportedly listed a list of over 101 alleged victims, mostly female celebrities on various websites. The pics have been circulating on social media though some are claimed to be fakes. However, a representative of Jennifer Lawrence confirmed her snaps were indeed real, saying "this is a flagrant violation of privacy." Poor JLaw.

Scott Pilgrim actress Elizabeth Winstead also confirmed she is a hacking victim and talked to Twitter to complain saying, "To those of you looking at photos I took with my husband years ago in the privacy of our home, hope you feel great about yourselves." Followed by, "Knowing those photos were deleted long ago, I can only imagine the creepy effort that went into this. Feeling for everyone who got hacked." The phone pictures were apparently obtained through iCloud by a hacker who claims to have more photos and videos of various celebrities including Kelly Brook and Cathy Lee.

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Anthony Harvey/Getty

More leaks… and no end in sight. This time, supermodel Cara Delevingne, actress Anna Kendrick and more have been targeted by hackers.Just one day after FBI Director James Comey criticized Apple and Google for marketing lines of new smartphones equipped with improved encryption designed to thwart potential hacks, yet another online dump of hacked nude photos of various celebrities has hit the web.

On Friday afternoon, download links surfaced on Reddit and 4chan boards that led to presumably hacked private photos of supermodel Cara Delevingne, actress Anna Kendrick, and others. Kendrick is clothed in all 87 of the photos leaked online, although they appear to be private images off her phone that show the actress partying in a series of revealing outfits. Other women targeted in the leak, which online commenters have referred to as “The Fappening 3,” include: three-time Olympic gold medalist Misty May-Treanor, soap opera star Alexandra Chando, actress Kelli Garner (Going the Distance), TV presenter Brook Burns, and actress Lauren O’Neil. A video and images of actress Briana Evigan of the Step Up films also leaked.

The problem with the iCloud’s security, as many online commenters on Reddit and 4chan boards sharing the stolen photos have pointed out, is that the iCloud lets you try an unlimited number of security question attempts...

Earlier this week, photos of Masters of Sex star Lizzy Caplan, former The View co-host Jenny McCarthy, and others hit the web. All these leaks follow in the wake of Monday’s leak of Rihanna, Amber Heard, and others; Saturday’s leak of Kim Kardashian, Scarlett Johansson, etc.; and the first big leak of Jennifer Lawrence and more. Thankfully, an online countdown clock—EmmaYouAreNext.com—which alleged it would leak nude photos of Harry Potter actress Emma Watson when the clock hit zero, presumably in retaliation for her moving speech on feminism at the United Nations, turned out to be an awful hoax perpetrated by a fake marketing firm dubbed Rantic Media hell-bent on shuttering 4chan.

Having spent a few weeks on various Reddit and 4chan boards and read numerous posts about the hacking—or “Fappening,” as online pervs have so crudely labeled it—the issue seems to come down to security flaws within Apple’s iCloud online storage system.

From Jump Street, online posters (and their victims) have alleged that the leaks have happened by hackers penetrating the iCloud, and Lawrence and others contacted the FBI, who claimed to be working with Apple to ramp up security. Apple, as is their wont, denied claims of an iCloud security breach in a Sept. 2 press release, stating:

“After more than 40 hours of investigation, we have discovered that certain celebrity accounts were compromised by a very targeted attack on user names, passwords and security questions, a practice that has become all too common on the Internet. None of the cases we have investigated has resulted from any breach in any of Apple’s systems including iCloud or Find my iPhone. We are continuing to work with law enforcement to help identify the criminals involved.”

This statement, really, says nothing. The problem with the iCloud’s security, as many online commenters on Reddit and 4chan boards sharing the stolen photos have pointed out, is that the iCloud lets you try an unlimited number of security question attempts. Most sites lock you out after, say, ten failed attempts. But not the iCloud. This security problem seemed to be confirmed on Wednesday, when The Daily Dot claimed to have uncovered email correspondences between Apple and a security researcher, Ibrahim Balic, informing the company of the weakness of the iCloud’s security and alleging it’s very susceptible to “brute force” attacks—cracking passwords by exhausting thousands and thousands of key combinations. Balic claimed that he was allowed to try over 20,000 password combinations on a given account. The email exchange between Balic and Apple began in March and continued through May, with the Apple official questioning Balic’s findings—all of which he reported via Apple’s online bug submission platform.

Reddit commenters have pointed out an interview that Lawrence gave with MTV News back in May while promoting X-Men: Days of Future Past. In it, she discusses her issues with the iCloud. “Does that say iCloud backup?” she asks MTV host Josh Horowitz. “Because my iCloud keeps telling me to ‘back it up’ and I’m like, ‘I don’t know how to back you up! Do it yourself.’”

Anna Kendrick on her own naked photo hacking: 'It would be photos of food and other people's dogs anyway'by Ella Alexander 01 September 2014

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It sounds as if we’d be pretty bored by the contents of the actress’ phone

Anna Kendrick was not among the 100 high-profile names to have had her phone hacked, but she says that we’d all be pretty disappointed with any leaked pictures anyway.

She says that, far from the naked images of Jennifer Lawrence, Rihanna and Cara Delevingne, who are all victims of a large-scale phone hacking allegedly caused by an iCloud leak, the contents of her phone are of a more PG variety.

IS APPLE'S ICLOUD SAFE?

She published a screen grab of a text message that her brother has sent her, in which he showed his relief that her name wasn’t featured on the list of over 100 celebrities involved in the hacking.

Victoria Justice and Ariana Grande have both said that the naked images are fakes, while Kate Upton’s representatives are “looking into” the authenticity of the pictures.

Lawrence’s spokesperson confirmed that the photos of the star were real.

“This is a flagrant violation of privacy,” said the actress’ spokesperson. “The authorities have been contacted and will prosecute anyone who posts the stolen photos of Jennifer Lawrence.”

Among the many websites to have published the images is Perez Hilton. The blogger has since deleted the pictures and wrote an apology.

“No, I haven't been forced to do so or been contacted by their reps, but I am removing those uncensored photos of JLaw and Victoria Justice,” he initially wrote alongside censored versions of the images.

“I acted in haste just to get the post up and didn't really think things through. I'm sorry.”

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Editor's note: Peggy Drexler is the author of "Our Fathers, Ourselves: Daughters, Fathers and the Changing American Family" and "Raising Boys Without Men." She is an assistant professor of psychology at Weill Cornell Medical College of Cornell University and a former gender scholar at Stanford University. Join her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter @drpeggydrexler. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.

(CNN) -- The latest nude celebrity photo leak is yet another case of how the Internet often lets people do whatever they want to whomever they want.

On Sunday, a user of anonymous Internet message board 4chan posted hundreds of nude photos of some of Hollywood's biggest celebrities, including actress Jennifer Lawrence and model Kate Upton. The poster claimed photos of Victoria Justice and Ariana Grande were included, but the singer/actresses deny that the photos are real.

Representatives and the women themselves have begun issuing their denials (in the case of Justice and Grande) and confirmations (in the case of Lawrence and Upton). A representative for Lawrence confirmed in an email to Buzzfeed that the images were stolen from the actress' iCloud account.

"This is a flagrant violation of privacy," the representative said. "The authorities have been contacted and will prosecute anyone who posts the stolen photos of Jennifer Lawrence."

Of course, what happened here is more than a violation of privacy; it's flat-out criminal invasion. Prosecution, however, may be something of a long shot. Although a Florida man responsible for breaking into the private email accounts of more than 50 celebs and posting many explicit photos online is serving 10 years in prison, the law is only just beginning to catch up to the problem of what is broadly referred to as "revenge porn," or the unauthorized posting of explicit content without the consent of the individual.

Most websites that host these photos are protected by a federal law that absolves them of responsibility for material posted by third parties. It's legal in most of the United States, and only a few states -- about 12 -- have laws that make posting on such sites a crime ... if you can even find out who the poster is.

These unclear, largely ineffectual laws have in turn encouraged a culture of victim blaming, which we're seeing here in full force.

Prosecuting depends on first determining who uploaded the photo and where the photo originated. A California law, for example, did not, until just last week, protect victims who took the photos themselves.

These unclear, largely ineffectual laws have in turn encouraged a culture of victim-blaming, which we're seeing here in full force. Consider that the biggest headlines haven't been along the lines of "How can someone can do this and get away with it?" but a debate over who bears greater blame: Apple's iCloud or the women themselves.

Certainly, the surest way to avoid ever having your most private photos shared publicly is to not take them in the first place. This is the philosophy behind the most common advice given to teens, among whom the rates of "sexting" continue to rise. Trust no one. Share nothing. Even better: Take nothing.

While we're at it: Don't leave the house. After all, you could get mugged, or raped. You'd better not fly on a jet, either, what with all the terrorism and overworked pilots. Swim in the ocean? No way: sharks!

It's ridiculous logic.

And yet much of the reaction to the celebrity leak has fallen prey to such logic, questioning why these celebrities would take such risqué—and risky—photos in the first place. For this reason, taking nude photos is most definitely a right to fight for, if only because ceasing to do so is a form of victim blaming, and far more harmful than protective.

The blame for a crime lies not with the victim but with the criminal. Jennifer Lawrence was not naïve, or tacky, or any number of criticisms that have been and surely will be lobbed at her, for posing for provocative photos. She was a normal young woman. And I suspect that we're more shocked by the fact that Lawrence had a glass of wine and posed naked for a boyfriend than the fact the image is now ours to see. We've become accustomed to knowing everything about everyone.

Actress Mary Elizabeth Winstead, one of the victims, received responses to her tweet, "To those of you looking at photos I took with my husband years ago in the privacy of our home, hope you feel great about yourselves," that echoed this sentiment: "‪@M_E_Winstead Stop posing nude on camera, dummy. Your husband not know what you look like nude? ‪#LessonLearned." She has since gone silent on Twitter.

The message, of course, isn't that it's heinous to so publicly and maliciously invade someone's privacy but that these women brought their misfortune on themselves. After all, it wouldn't have happened to them if they didn't take the photos.

But the first step to protecting our privacy both online and off isn't to demand that Apple make a stronger iCloud or to start stripping our storage spaces of anything private. Nor is it to insist that women stop taking nude photos of themselves or, for that matter, stop engaging in any activity they wouldn't want to be made public. Instead, it's to take these crimes seriously and hold their executors accountable. The problem isn't the picture. It's the perpetrator.

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How did private, nude photos of Jennifer Lawrence and other celebrities get leaked all over the Internet Sunday?

It was a combination of weak passwords, easy-to-guess security questions and a bug in Apple's photo backup service that has since been fixed.

On Tuesday, Apple (AAPL, Tech30) concluded hackers were able to force their way into celebrities' private photo collections by repeatedly guessing passwords -- or answers to their security questions.

This was possible, because of a bug in the system Apple uses to remotely store photos and documents: iCloud.

Well-guarded systems only let users guess passwords a handful of times before blocking access. But until this week, Apple's iCloud service allowed people to guess passwords over and over again. It would never lock out. Eventually, hackers hit it right.

Also a likely culprit: the "forgot my password" feature. If you don't remember your password, the system asks you security questions to grant access. These actresses, models and singers lead public lives, and answers to questions about their past are easily found on Wikipedia and elsewhere.

It's similar to what happened to Alaska's former governor, Sarah Palin. Hackers accessed her personal email account. One of the security questions she had set to retrieve her password was her birthday.

Apple assured the public these hackers did not break into the company's core computer systems, which house all of its users' data. So iCloud itself was not hacked.

"Certain celebrity accounts were compromised by a very targeted attack on user names, passwords and security questions, a practice that has become all too common on the Internet," Apple said in a statement. "None of the cases we have investigated has resulted from any breach in any of Apple's systems including iCloud or Find my iPhone."

But this is another event that stresses the importance of secure passwords. Celebrities are already prime targets of malicious behavior, so they need to be especially careful online with extra precautions to keep hackers at bay. Strong, hard-to-guess passwords are a must.

Passphrases are especially strong passwords, particularly ones that are easy to remember but are long and hard to guess (example: "1 Day I ate 364 bananas & 13 cherry Pies!!!").

It's also vital to use password-protecting tools like two-factor authentication. That option, available on most email or file-sharing platforms, is a second, temporary password that usually arrives in the form of a text message.

It prevents anyone from accessing your account without also being in possession of your phone. And it would have prevented this.

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Hackers claimed to have obtained nude pictures of Jennifer Lawrence at the end of August. Photograph: Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images

A gang of hackers who collected and traded nude pictures of female celebrities by routinely breaking into Apple's iCloud system were the source of private photographs leaked online, new evidence shows.

Private photos and videos of more than 100 mostly female American and British stars were released on the internet on Monday from the 4chan website, sparking condemnation from the Oscar-winner Jennifer Lawrence and other actors including Kirsten Dunst, Kate Upton and Briton Jessica Brown Findlay.

Chatroom transcripts show that "OriginalGuy", a member of the gang who has now gone on the run, boasted that the hacking of accounts belonging to Lawrence and others "is the result of several months of long and hard work" and that "several people were in on it".

Other chatroom transcripts show that the gang had offered nude pictures of female celebrities and athletes for sale, and others offered to "rip" the iCloud backup accounts containing photos for anyone once they were given their user name and password. The iCloud backups come from the stars' iPhones, which automatically store photos online for up to 30 days or until they are downloaded.

The revelation comes as the FBI and Apple started investigating the security breach, the most serious ever to affect the iPhone maker and a serious blow to its efforts to push new devices expected to incorporate mobile payment functions next week.

There are more than 800 million iCloud accounts globally – but the chatroom transcripts suggest there is now a growing semi-professional trade in "ripping" iCloud accounts, posing a serious problem for Apple's security profile.

The FBI said it was "aware" of the hacking allegations and was "addressing the matter". Apple said in a statement that it was outraged by the hack and immediately mobilised engineers to discover the source. "After more than 40 hours of investigation, we have discovered that certain celebrity accounts were compromised by a very targeted attack on user names, passwords and security questions, a practice that has become all too common on the internet," the company said.

"None of the cases we have investigated has resulted from any breach in any of Apple's systems including iCloud or Find my iPhone. We are continuing to work with law enforcement to help identify the criminals involved."

The gang seems to have been gathering and swapping pictures collected from celebrities' backups for years.

On 26 August, one poster on AnonIB, an anonymous pornographic image sharing site, claimed to have secured a "major win" for hackers looking for nude pictures of Lawrence. He wrote: "I mean explicit vids and pics, see for yourself/don't have it tho, but everyone says its legit."

Now the poster has gone on the run, after posting a brief message asking for bitcoin donations, which are untraceable. The release of the photos appears to have been unplanned and to have thrown the gang into disarray, with some trying to cash in by offering photos for bitcoins on public sites such as 4chan, while others have gone further underground.

Jonathan Zdziarski, an independent security researcher, said he has tracked the Bitcoin address used to solicit donations for some of the celebrity pictures and found it belongs to the owner of a Dutch photo-hosting site – which he says is also distributing an "original version" of the pictures released earlier this week.

The photos fell into the hands of hackers even though Apple encrypts iCloud backups using the four-digit code users create when setting up their device.

The backups can be downloaded and cracked offline once a hacker has gained access to the user's account – which in the current cases was achieved by answering security questions on Apple's password reset system, such as "Where did your parents meet?", using publicly available information.

The gang appears to have operated in a similar way to child abuse rings, which are closed to newcomers unless they can provide "new" photos for the rest to share.

One user on the Reddit website said: "These guys conduct individual attacks on celebs through a mix of social engineering" – whereby hackers pose as support staff or send official-looking emails to gather information – "and, especially for more high-profile targets, straight-up hacking."

The long-running attempts to break into high-profile users' accounts could explain how photos from as long ago as December 2011 – two months after Apple launched iCloud – could appear in the lists of files held by some group members.

Another transcript seen by the Guardian includes a user claiming to "have nudes of possibly the hottest athlete there is", while another user says: "I have a confirmed iCloud email of a celebrity, was wondering if someone could help crack and rip it."

The existence of the group and its obsessive pursuit of stars' personal photos points to the growing risk from the use of "cloud" systems with smartphones.

Martin Garbus, a New York trial lawyer who over the years has represented actors Al Pacino, Sean Connery, Robert Redford and others, said on Tuesday that worried clients had approached him about security issues.

"Nothing is safe on the internet, period," he told Reuters. "Everything on your iPhone, whether it be phone calls, message texts, pictures, is all available." He said he was not surprised by the hacking because he said he has seen it in the past. "There are just so many different ways that one's privacy can be invaded."